Saturday, March 27, 2010

I finally got around to scanning things last night!This is my decade piece for Drawing the Fashion Figure. I predictably picked the '50s.This was for my Sci-fi illustration class last semester.And just about the rest is from my watercolor class last summer. I'm going to be showing some of these and selling prints at AB and possible future Etsy store.This is actually a book illustration of Howl's Moving Castle. Super different from the movie, isn't it?

Friday, March 26, 2010

Ah, finally getting to work on AB stuff again. I still have the other pieces from previous entries to finish, but taking a pause from those, I wanted to do some smaller watercolor pieces relating to lolita using this idea generator. Ironically, for a traditional piece, I'm doing the sketches digitally.Teacup Canary Stockings. I'm obviously going more with "canary yellow" than the birds. Mostly 'cause I felt like the canary in this was a little too random. If I did a composition where she was regular sized, it would be easier, but I didn't want to get too flighty looking here. Pun not intended.

Plaid Bear Blouse. The blouse is what's going to be plaid here.Rococo frill straw hat. Not as loli as the others 'cause I wanted it to be genuinely Rococo, but I'm trying to keep that light-yet-cartoony feel.

Pastry Sleeping Beauty fan. I didn't draw in the fan part yet and I seriously need to work on the legs, but it's thus far my favorite, at least conceptually.

Thursday, March 25, 2010

Almost there. ; ~; I get a lovely not-much-of-a-spring-break. I say all that hyphenation because now that I'm in the clear for my class projects, I'm still going to be doing all the rest of the work I need to before Anime Boston. F.M.L.

Friday, March 19, 2010

Dear gods, help me get through the day without walking into on coming traffic. Seriously, I only slept about three hours last night while finishing up things. At least I have over an hour to get ready for class.I also got an email from Joe about the post card. Gonna have to tighten it up and give it a "POW" factor. Not a huge problem, just...that's going to have to wait for tomorrow.

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

I finished my postcard assignment for Drawing the Fashion Figure at the cost of sleep, hydration and feeling well enough to even go to Drawing the Fashion Figure. Thank you NoDoz. One coffee's worth of caffeine my ass. I can drink three cups of espresso and not feel like death. I think I'll just buy Rockstar coffee next time. It hated my stomach less.

After this, we have to do a piece on the fashion of a decade in history, which is due next week. I'm doing it traditional media, which is a thousand times faster. I just need a model to use, or reference. Or I can mostly make it up, but knowing my teacher, I should use a reference.

My Fashion Interpretation professor actually gave an extension to me and another girl, but at the same time decided that we should all do another project by this Friday as well. A similarly large project that was originally not supposed to be due until mid April. Apparently, he wants us to drop dead from exhaustion before we can go and enjoy our Spring break.

Here's the progress on the Virgo poster, though. I'll have it done by tomorrow, though it doesn't look like that much progress right now. Trust me, it's going faster. I just got distracted by the reminder of the other projects I need to finish.

Thursday, March 4, 2010

Yeah, that's right: I have a logo. This is mostly what's going to be on the back of my business cards. I have this, the banner, and the following images on the front of them.

This is the wedding dress I want to wear when I actually nab some guy to be my handbag. ...Ok, kidding. I do want to get married, though, which is interesting seeing as how I don't believe in marriage as a legal institution.

In case you couldn't tell, this is actually class work. I'm currently attending a fashion and design school as an illustration major, so this is from Drawing the Fashion Figure 4. Yup, that's the class title. My teacher was rather impressed with the tablet, which is apparently totally new tech for him. This surprises me, since he's on of the younger teachers I have.

This was also for a class, where we had to do fashion spot illustrations for the zodiac. This is Cancer. I did a few others, all of them "hair stories", but I liked how this came out most. It also doesn't hurt that it's my sign.

So yeah, I finally decided to order my business cards. Let's hope they get here without too much issue. There already is one problem, 'cause I'm stupid and forgot to add my dorm room number on the delivery address. Hopefully, I can still get it from the package center if I ask them for it when it should arrive...which is the 12th. Awesome, I'll get them in about a week!

If you're wondering what a good company for business cards is, I recommend Moo cards. They have 3.5x2 inch cards, really cute mini cards, postcards (though those, I'd personally get done via www.postcards.com), and if you have no personal designs, they have a lot of their own, free of cheesiness, depending on your tastes. The mini cards are really good if you just want to hand out contact cards as meet ups and cons, too. I went with the standard, though, since I had a design for the business side with my logo and wanted the other side to be purely art.

Now if only I knew a good printing service for the big stuff aside from my school's and Kinkos... Say Office Max/Staples and I'll gag. No offense to them. I just have bad memories from my shortest part time job there.

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Yeah, I finally got my Google info again, so I can work on this blog! \o/

So, having realized that AB is a month from now, I'm working hard on getting my prints done this month. My grades will likely slip, but honestly? I'd rather my grades slip and have to make them up with summer school than to miss out on selling art and getting my name more out there.

So, here are some of what I've been working on lately.

Alright, I admit it: I'm a Hetalia fan, especially for England. (Though, honestly, I was always an anglophile.) I know it's like the new Naruto for screaming yaoi fangirls, but honestly? I love it. Plus, I made a lot of friends through it, including Minji and DG who will be sitting next to me in the Artists' Alley come April 2nd. This idea came up when I was roleplaying England with Seychelles-mun from Nation Ask going on a date on Valentine's Day. The girl really likes fish and getting back at England for putting her in embarrassing situations. ;; Really, I can't wait to get to coloring this. Even though I don't eat the stuff, I love painting sushi.

This is really a first for me. I've been drawing lolita stuff for as long as I've been into the fashion, but I've never drawn or colored in this manner. It's a very heavy process and I'm kicking myself for doing this the way I am. Still, this is my dream dress concept, so I'll be so satisfied when I'm done if I do this right. The background is really bold, too. I just reduced the opacity so I can see the sketch as I lay out the flat colors.

I have to say, though: textile design is a pain in the ass. I really respect the people in my school that major in it a whole lot more, now. I personally don't think that, as a working fabric print, the work I did for the skirt is as good as it could be. As a graphic element, though, it works very well.

See? Pain in the ass. I want to work on it again later, so that I can put it through Spoonflower and try to make it. Or commission someone to make it. My sewing skills are only so-so, for full garments.

Oh, and you've probably noticed that the fabric design is also the background on the banner. The banner proved to be a really good exercise for me to do for the finished piece on the full Arabian Nights jumperskirt concept.

There it is without text. I'm a rather vain person, plus I want people to easily recognize me when they pass by the table, so I drew myself poking a Pinky:St-based doll...that is also me. I'm considering using it for a Moo/contact card.

Oh, and I'm doing shiny business cards with old art , too. I've apparently run out of space to post pictures with, though. ON TO A SECOND PART.

About Me

I'm a 20-something lolita, writer and illustrator that works primarily in watercolor, collage, inks, pencils and digital media. I have a background in fine arts and fashion illustration and my favorite subjects are sci-fi/fantasy, fairy tales, and alternative fashion.